J and I awoke in the night around 4 am to find no air movement in our room. And there is always air movement - either hot or cold - one seems not able to choose no fan whatsoever. So I called the Front Desk to report that and they sent the night housekeeping to our room to verify indeed, no air movement was happening. As a result of the disruption in the night (and the heat in our room) and the one hour time change loss, we slept late for us. I awoke at 7:45 and looked out to see Rarotonga shrouded in cloud. We were due to begin tendering into this port at 8 am so that fact that we were still moving did not look promising.
I decided to leave J sleeping and headed up to the Crowsnest on Deck 10 where there are panoramic windows forward. Here is also where the EXC (Excursion) booking desk is located. I asked the obvious question - “Are we missing this port today?” Yes indeed we are not stopping in Avatiu, Rarotonga, Cook Islands today. Then the Captain came on the loudspeaker and announced that due to unsafe conditions we would not be tendering in to this island. The Captain announced that at 7:30 am we had winds of 45 knots (at 1.15 conversion that amounts to winds of more than 50 miles per hour). He could not hold the ship steady and as a result he cancelled the port. We are taking a longer route to travel to our next destination Aitutaki, Cook Islands. The longer route allowed us to travel at higher speeds so the day would offer smoother sailing - so we circumnavigated Rarotonga as part of the morning’s routing.
I bought a coffee for J at the Explorations Cafe - located inside the Crowsnest. As a bonus, they offered complimentary croissants and biscotti, so I picked up two small pieces of chocolate biscotti to accompany J’s Americano. While J appreciated the delivery of a coffee (I think) he didn’t enjoy the roast of the bean and prefers to have his coffee in the dining room. So we went to the dining room for breakfast. We squeaked in the dining room at exactly 9 am when they stop allowing guests to enter for breakfast. They graciously accepted us perhaps due to the fact that we had just heard the disappointing news that we were going to miss today's port. This is just another example of the staff going the extra mile to compensate and please guests while the cruise itinerary changes are necessary.
My first view of Rarotonga, Cook Islands this morning!
Mid morning, J went for a workout in the fitness centre and I had mine in a 45 minute “Permission to Dance” class! And the air conditioning was fixed in our room (and others) before lunch so that was a quick response time!
For lunch at the Lido, we found glasses of prosecco set out on all the tables, complimentary from "Captain Frank van der Hoeven, Hotel General Manager Henk Mensink, Staff, Officers and Precious Cres of the Zuiderdam” with apologies for needing to forgo our call to Avatiu, Rarotonga, Cook Islands. Holland America really is trying to do all it can to make the cruise enjoyable when port adjusments are necessary for the safety of everybody.
J played bridge, I watched HGTV’s Renovation Island (the show is called Island of Bryan in Canada). I find if I watch HGTV around 3 pm in the afternoon on the ship - we get what are considered prime time shows at home. Other TV channels include: BBC World News, Fox News, MSNBC, Sport 24 (which plays lots of Rugby!), Foot Network, HGTV, Travel Channel, Prime One and Prime Favorites. HGTV is my go to channel or BBC World News.
We then had phone calls with each of our sons back in Canada. We use the What’s App audio call feature and had reasonably good reception. Each call only dropped once!
At dinner, J and I ordered a Surf and Turf to share for an upcharge (doing all we can to give HAL a little more business!). J ate the filet mignon ‘bleu’ and I had the lobster tail. The meal came with asparagus, fried mushrooms and a baked potato. It was a big serving (and we had ordered a lasagne to share as well) so I would have been happy with just the shared meal. For dessert, Juma was very pleased to report there was rocky road ice cream! That flavour is tough to find and always a quick sell out on the lido deck. I believe Juma made a special order of rocky road ice cream for R & C’s table as well as ours!
We then headed to the MainStage to watch “BBC Earth Presents: Planet Earth II in Concert” This amazing cinematography of natural animals in the wild is accompanied by seven musicians live onstage.
BBC Earth: Planet Earth II in concert.
We visited with two more friends from Cruise Critic after the show and took bets on whether or not we will be able to tender in tomorrow to Aitutaki. Fingers crossed, we will find out in the morning!
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